This invention relates to a semiconductor laser and, in particular, to a semiconductor laser using II-VI compound semiconductors and capable of emitting light with a short wavelength.
Demand for semiconductor lasers capable of emitting light with a short wavelength has increased more and more to improve recording densities of optical disks and resolutions of laser printers, and efforts are being made to realize such semiconductor lasers.
Hopeful materials of semiconductor lasers for emitting light with a short wavelength include II-VI compound semiconductors. For example, efforts are directed to semiconductor lasers using ZnSe or ZnSSe as the material of cladding layers and using ZnCdSe or ZnSe as the material of active layers for emitting light with a wavelength less than 600 nm.
However, with no acceptable active layers found, it has been difficult to realize semiconductor lasers for emitting blue to ultraviolet light.